Houston’s top five weather events since 1992: No. 3

To mark the June 1 beginning of hurricane season, and the departure of Houston’s Bill Read to become the new chief of the National Hurricane Center, I’m counting down the top five Houston weather events since the year 1992. That’s when Read arrived in Houston.

On November 21, 1992, a cluster of six tornadoes struck Harris County, including an F4 tornado that developed in Channelview on Houston’s east side. This large and powerful tornado, with winds that likely exceeded 200 mph, at one time widened to three-quarters of a mile and wiped some homes clean off their slabs.

A total of 17 tornadoes touched down in the greater Houston area, one of the largest outbreaks in Houston’s history. “It was something of a miracle that no one died,” Read said.

Kerwin Plevka/Chronicle

The scene from Channelview after one of the twisters.

There are about 1,200 tornadoes a year in the United States. Of those, about 150 are F2 strength, with estimated winds of 113 to 157 mph, equivalent to those of a Category-3 to Category-5 hurricane. And only about 10 are F4 or F5 tornadoes, the most destructive, with winds in excess of 200 mph.

What’s the chance that an F2 or greater tornado will strike your home? Based upon historical strikes for the greater Houston area, your home is likely to be hit by such a strong tornado once every 5,000 to 10,000 years.